Kara DioGuardi Interview

Kara DioGuardi may be in the middle of her second season as a judge on American Idol, but she's still not used to the larger-than-life personality that being a star on one of TV's most beloved shows demands of her. Underneath the major makeup and big, blown-out hair, Kara is just a girl from the New York suburbs—albeit one who has made it big behind the scenes as a songwriter for such megastars as Pink, Christina Aguilera, and Gwen Stefani (to name a few).

So on this rare day away from the set, Kara breathes a sigh of relief: no makeup chair, producers, judges, or contestants. Just the comforts of her Hollywood Hills home and its veritable mishmash of styles—an antique here, a tchotchke there, a Western motif in one corner, a French-chateau feel in another. Here in this cozy living room, with framed photos adorning every table, Kara, 39, can just be herself.

"The amount of eye shadow they put on me, and the lashes that are out to here!" Kara says, motioning to a spot that's parallel to the tip of her nose. Then, perhaps taking a cue from panel partner Simon Cowell, she says, "I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but I don't wear that much makeup. I realize I need to [stand out], but I have yet to figure out a balance where I look at myself and go, 'That's me!' "

Finding the perfect balance has been Kara's challenge as Idol moves through its ninth season. This year has brought major changes: Paula Abdul is out, Ellen DeGeneres is in, and after this season, Cowell is leaving TV's largest talent show and taking his snug T-shirts and snarky comments to a singing competition all his own called The X Factor. His are "big shoes to fill," Kara says. "Finding someone who has a lot of knowledge about music and who is also an interesting character is going to be a daunting task."

Yet Kara is feeling more comfortable at the judging table, dispensing sound, big-sisterly advice to a parade of Carrie Underwood and Adam Lambert wannabes. "Last season was tough for Kara," says fellow Idol judge Randy Jackson. "But she held her own. She's got it going on now."

Off camera, Kara is as engaging as she is on the show—warm, funny, and unguarded—whether showing off pictures of her husband of eight months, Mike McCuddy, 35, or marveling at the creds of her castmates. "Could I sit next to bigger people? My God—Ryan [Seacrest], Ellen, Simon, and Randy! Sometimes I look in the hallway and think, There's a billion dollars in this building!"

Intimidating, to be sure—which might explain Kara's bumpy initiation. From her first day on the job, Kara found herself facing the music...and the critics. "People are so mean," she says. "They'll go, 'Kara's stupid. She repeats whatever Randy says. Paula's way better,' or 'She's ugly.' I'm like, Really? I may not be some beauty, but ugly?"

Kara freely admits that she provided some of the ammunition (among her minor snafus: saying Studio 57 instead of Studio 54 during one show). "Of course I knew that, but I was nervous," she says. "Do I want to take it back? Yes. But am I going to let them eat me alive at this stage of my life?"

Nope. Instead, she fired off a middle finger in the form of her supertight bikini-clad physique. During the live season-eight finale, she stole the spotlight from finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen during the now-infamous battle with Bikini Girl, in which Kara ripped open her dress, grabbed headlines, "and probably saved my job," she says. Yet it almost didn't happen: "I kept saying no. I mean, what crazy nut is gonna go out there in a bikini at almost 40 years radioof age against a girl who is 20 and probably cosmetically enhanced?"

Kara changed her mind hours before going on the air, prodded by producers who dangled a donation in her name to her choice charity, Phoenix House, a nonprofit facility for the prevention and treatment of drug and alcohol abuse. "I needed that justification," she says. Plus, "It was a defining moment. Like, 'She's serious and industry, but also as kooky as everyone else on this panel.' " Her only regret? Not having time to get a spray tan. "I looked a little pasty. But hey, at least I didn't wet myself!"

Finding Her Way
Exposing her pale-but-taut bod was something of a personal triumph for Kara, who battled an eating disorder when she was in her early twenties. Before finding her musical calling, feeling unsure of her future, Kara embarked on episodes of binge eating in the middle of the night. "I'd pretty much clean out the refrigerator," she recalls. "Food was my drug of choice. It anesthetized me so I wouldn't have to feel whatever I was feeling. I'd stuff myself full of sugar and fall asleep."

The problem began when Kara was a student at Duke University in North Carolina and continued after she graduated and moved back home to Scarsdale, New York. It was only when she landed an assistant's job at the music-industry magazine Billboard that things started to turn around. With career satisfaction came healthier habits. "I started to feel better about my life," she says. "I was answering phones and getting water, but I also learned about the music business."

Before long, Kara decided she wanted in on the creative side, and through her industry contacts, she ended up pitching a song to music mogul Tommy Mottola. Even more impressive, she sang the tune in person, Idol-audition-style. Mottola picked up on her knack for radio ready melodies and commissioned her to work on album tracks with Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion, and Marc Anthony. Those successes became a launching pad for a slew of top-10 hits, starting with "Escape" by Enrique Iglesias.

Now Kara is reveling in a totally different accomplishment: snagging an awesome husband. When she met Mike, a contractor, in 2007, "I was at my vacation home in Maine, and he was working on the house next door," she says. "He had broken up with a girl, so his sister said 'Why don't you go to the coast? Maybe you'll meet someone.' But during April in Maine, there's not exactly an influx of people."

At first, the divorced father of one wasn't impressed by Kara's Hollywood credentials, but she liked his lack of pretense. "He was grounded, somebody you could anchor yourself to," she says. Sifting through the love notes she has received from him over the years, Kara smiles: "When I came home one night, there was a banner in the kitchen that read 'We missed you.' He said Kiki, our dog, made him do it. He always blames Kiki when he's being sweet. He doesn't want to get too mushy."

And there may soon be a family addition: Kara and Mike are trying to have a child, which means one or more of Kara's five jobs will have to go. (In addition to being an Idol judge and an in-demand songwriter, she's also an executive vice president of A&R at Warner Bros. Records, a record producer, and a co-owner of Arthouse Entertainment, a company that represents producers and writers.) "It'll be a lot of pressure being in charge of a little soul who will someday judge me if I'm not there for the school play," she says.

How She Got Her "Bikini Girl" Bod
With Kara hitting the big 4-0 in December, she is hyperaware of her body—inside and out. At home, she eats healthfully, thanks to Mike, who cooks veggie stir-fry ("The more roughage you eat, the more it fills you up"), pasta with shrimp, and chicken dishes. She also drinks a lot of water: "Two huge bottles a day, minimum. I leave them around—one upstairs, one in the car—to force me to remember."

She hits the gym four times a week, a habit she got into while trying to escape the sit-around lifestyle that comes with recording. Her routine: "Two miles of running or 25 minutes of cardio—boxing, treadmill, step-ups, walking lunges, sprints. I mix it up. And weight training is important as you get older. You build muscle, which burns fat when you're at rest."

Working with trainer Jeff Hulsey, she focuses on her upper half, the part that's seen most on television. "Someone [close to me] said, 'You may want to work on your arms—they're a little jiggly,' " she says with a laugh. "The people in my life have no qualms about telling me when I don't look that great."

Why would they? Kara may be a star on one of television's most buzzed-about shows, but this girl is as down-to-earth as they come. "Sometimes I feel like I'm watching myself in a movie. It's like, How is it possible I'm sitting next to Ellen?" she says, reflecting on her good fortune. "For the first time in my life, I'm content. I don't feel the need to prove myself anymore."

Check out our behind-the-scenes video of Kara from the April 2010 cover shoot:

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